NAA Update: Congratulations to the winners of the 2017 NAA Annual Awards

10th November 17

What a fantastic night everyone had at The Mere on Thursday evening, my congratulations go to not only the winners of all the Awards, but to everyone who entered, I hope that with you being featured within the brochure that this will lead to additional opportunities for you…

You can read more about Klarius, the winner of the NAA Company of the Year Award, in the company’s new member article later in the newsletter, and we will be planning a visit to their manufacturing facilities during 2018. Having visited them as part of the Logistics Excellence Award assessment, I am certain that there will be many ideas that you will be able to consider putting into practice in your own facilities. We were very impressed by their holistic approach to continuous improvement and implementation of lean methodologies across the whole of the business.

Klarius’ Award win demonstrates the overall impact of applying for an Award which includes a site visit – this gives the opportunity for the judges to see other aspects of your business, not only those that are relevant for the award in question. This is a new member that has certainly arrived in style by winning Company of the Year on their first Award submission!

Another recent new member has also seen an immediate benefit of being a member of NAA. CAL International joined NAA at the Advanced Engineering Show, this was their first experience of participating in a show and they not only learnt a lot about shows, but also found the Advanced Engineering Show an excellent opportunity to share their company with others. This really is the show for engineers across all of the industries and there were some excellent discussions held. Although we have yet to see the visitor numbers from the show, my impression is that they were higher than 2016, demonstrated by the fact that we were still talking to stand visitors when the show closure was announced on the last day!

Shows should be an important part of your tool set, by attending you are included in the show brochure, which many people will keep and refer to during the coming year, which is valuable publicity. For 2018 the NAA will only be taking a stand at shows when there are sufficient members reserving a space well in advance, so we can obtain prime slots on the show floorplan.

So if you want a cost-effective way to attend shows in 2018, please come and talk to us straight away, otherwise it will be too late as we will not be booking space. We are asking for you to complete an expression of interest so that we can understand the potential interest and at which shows we should be present during 2018.

From discussions with many of you during this year it is most likely that we will be present at CENEX Low Carbon Vehicle Show (12th & 13th September 2018) and also the Advanced Engineering Show (31st October & 1st November 2018, NEC). We can also help you in obtaining speaker slots at the shows. The sooner we start the stand planning we can ensure that we develop the stand to meet everyone’s requirements. Just remember that the total cost of attendance at a show with the NAA is much lower than taking a smaller stand on your own – with less people required to man the stand, no need to be there a day early to set up the stand, therefore resulting in cost savings on overnight accommodation and time out of the business. But most of all larger stands attract more visitors and you benefit from this footfall. Just send an email to Zoe (zoe@northernautoalliance.com) saying which 2018 show you are interested in attending, there is no commitment at this point.

Now the euphoria of the dinner is over, check your diaries and get registered for the visit to Plastic Omnium on 5th December. You also need to reserve the following dates:

13 February 2018 – Siemens, Congleton

20 March 2018 – BAC, Liverpool

The other immediate date for you to make a note of is 15th & 16th November. The NAA, in conjunction with the APC, will be at the SMART Factory Expo and Digital Manufacturing Show being held at the Liverpool Convention Centre. We will be there with the live APC portal for the EV supply chain. This is the portal where companies developing EVs will be looking for companies to complete their supply chain. I recommend that all our manufacturing companies log onto the portal; electric vehicles and their components still require ‘normal’ components as part of their manufacture. It costs nothing, and if you visit us on stand A3 then we can help you through the process. This is the ideal opportunity for you also to discuss with NAA staff your company’s personal journey in the changing world of automotive, and take a copy of our new Automotive Business Opportunities brochure.

We welcome the following new members this month and look forward to getting to know you better both by event attendance and your success stories being published in the newsletter: